Rumored to be released today, September 16, 2024, Apple’s iOS 18 has a number of new features that Apple users are looking forward to. You can download a PDF document, highlighting a full list of new features here: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-18/pdf/iOS_18_All_New_Features_Sept_2024.pdf
One of the most anticipated features is Apple’s support of RCS messaging, which will provide much better cross-platform messaging between Apple and Android devices. Apple is in no way including RCS support out of the goodness of its heart, but is being forced to included this support by the EU (European Union.)
Apple quietly annouced the upcoming support of RCS messaging and mostly ignored the benefits that such support would bring to it’s devices. Instead, highlighted all of the new features coming to iMessage, such as bold and italicized texts and the ability to schedule text messages to be sent (a feature that Android users have enjoyed for years.) Apple should have highlighted the fact that RCS adoption will finally let iPhone and Android users send each other high-resolution pictures and videos and that RCS will enable support for cross-platform read receipts and typing indicators. Prior to it’s support of RCS, cross-platform messages were communicated using MMS/SMS, which is the reason for images and videos having degraded quality.
To enable RCS (Rich Communication Services) on an iPhone, you can do the following:
Tap the toggle next to RCS Messaging under Text Messaging
- Open Settings
- Tap Apps
- Tap Messages